1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a terminal contacting part included in a jig for charging and discharging a secondary battery and the jig including the contacting part.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, as a technology development and demands for a mobile device increase, secondary battery demands as an energy source increase abruptly. In a prior art, a Nickel-Cadmium battery or a hydrogen ion battery as a secondary battery has been used; however, recently, a lithium ion battery and a lithium polymer have been used mainly.
Meanwhile, a secondary battery is fabricated by assembling cells and activating the cells wherein in a step of activating the cells, cells are loaded on a predetermined jig and charged on a condition for activating the cells. Here, since prior secondary Nickel-Cadmium battery and a lead acid battery can be used right after fabrications, a device for charging and discharging the prior Nickel-Cadmium battery and lead acid battery needs only to evaluate their performances. However, in a case of recently widely used lithium ion battery and lithium polymer secondary batteries, a predetermined charging and discharging process after a fabricating, that is, an activating process has to be performed to serve as a battery and thus a charging and discharging device becomes an essential part for a secondary battery fabricating line of a secondary battery.
Here, the charging and discharging device serves to grant secondary battery characteristics to a battery right after a secondary battery is fabricated among fabricating processes for storing electric energy through repeated several charging and discharging processes.
As a secondary battery supply increases depending on an increased demand for a secondary battery, many of charging and discharging devices for charging and discharging a secondary battery during a fabricating process need, and further the charging and discharging device becomes an essential part for evaluating battery characteristics of a fabricated second battery.
FIG. 1 is a view illustrating a prior jig 100 for charging and discharging a secondary battery. Generally, a jig for charging and discharging a secondary battery is used for activating a fabricated secondary battery or testing a performance before a selling.
As shown in FIG. 1, the jig 100 for charging and discharging may include a plate-shaped member 20 for loading a battery and a plurality of vertical through holes 24 for loosening a degradation of a battery when the battery is charged and discharged, and a terminal contacting part 40 for connecting to a battery electrode terminal and fixing the battery and allowing to apply electric current between a charging and discharging device and a secondary battery.
FIG. 2 is a perspective view illustrating in detail the terminal contacting part 40 included in a jig for charging and discharging and FIG. 3 is a side view illustrating the terminal contacting part.
As shown in FIG. 2, the terminal contacting part 40 included in a prior jig for charging and discharging a secondary battery may include an electric conductive unit 44 to be in contact tightly with one side of an electrode terminal, a compressing plate 43 made of conductive material, a main body 41 fixed on a plate-shaped member 20 and a pressing unit 42 for moving the compressing plate 43 to push an upper end surface of a received electrode terminal.
In general, by loading a secondary battery on the plate-shaped member 20 of a jig 100 and moving downward the pressing unit 42 of the terminal contacting part 40 for the compressing plate 43 to press downward vertically an electrode terminal of a battery, the electrode terminal is in contact tightly with the conductive unit 44 of a jig. After that, by an operation of a charging and discharging device (not shown) connected electrically to the jig 100, the conductive unit 44 and the electrode terminal are to be conducted and a charging and discharging are performed.
The prior pressing unit 42 of a terminal contacting part is fabricated using a handle or a screw of a rotation manner; however, in a case where the compression plate 43 is to be in contact tightly with a battery tap or an electrode lead and fixed thereto by a pressing unit of a rotation manner, it is not easy for the compressing plate to be in contact tightly with a battery tap or an electrode lead.
That is, in a case where an electrode lead is fixed using the pressing unit, since the compressing plate 43 is rotated and ascends by the pressing unit fabricated with a handle of a screw type, locations of an electrode lead and a ground may be varied and further a part of a front surface of the compressing plate 43 arrives firstly at an electrode lead due to a rotation manner of the pressing unit and thereby a contacting between a terminal contacting part and an electrode lead may be failed and as a result current may not be conductive smoothly and resistance may increase or an electrode lead may be over-heated.
Further, load to be transferred to an entire area of the compression plate 43 may be varied depending on a rotation extent of the pressing unit and a pressure for fixing a battery may be varied depending on a user. Accordingly, when a battery is evaluated, the evaluation results may be varied depending on fixing extents among the compressing plate, electrode lead and lower conductive units, and a user, and thereby decreasing a reliability of a battery evaluation.
As described in the forgoing, in a case where a secondary battery is fixed to a jig for charging and discharging, and loads on both taps or leads are not same and contacting failure is occurred, resistance on the tap or lead may increase to produce heat and thereby delaying an exact evaluation of a battery performance or making the evaluation impossible, and further damaging the battery.
Accordingly, there exists a need for improving a configuration of the terminal contacting part to ensure a process reliability of charging and discharging a secondary batter and to prevent a battery being damaged and to ensure a safety of a worker.